The Miracle Morning (8 page)

Schedule some time this week to think about and articulate your life purpose. Write it down where you’ll see it every day. In fact, you’ll have time to do this during your
Miracle Morning
.

Always remember that when you are committed to a life purpose that is bigger than your problems, your problems become relatively insignificant and you will overcome them with ease.

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Isolating Incidents

One of the most prevalent, yet not-so-obvious causes of mediocrity is
isolating incidents
. We do this when we mistakenly assume that each choice we make, and each individual action we take, is only affecting that particular moment, or circumstance. For example, you may think it’s
no big deal
to miss a workout, procrastinate on a project, or eat fast food because you’ll get a “do-over” tomorrow. You make the mistake of thinking that skipping that workout only affects that incident, and you’ll make a better choice next time. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

We must realize that the real impact and consequence of each of our choices and actions—and even our thoughts—is monumental, because every single thought, choice, and action is determining
who we are becoming
, which will ultimately determine the quality of our lives. As T. Harv Eker said in his best-selling book
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Every time you choose to do the
easy
thing, instead of the
right
thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the type of person who does what’s easy, rather than what’s right.

On the other hand, when you do choose to do the
right
thing and follow through with your commitments—especially when you don’t
feel
like it—you are developing the extraordinary discipline (which most people never develop) necessary for creating extraordinary results in your life.  As my good friend, Peter Voogd, often teaches his clients: “Discipline creates lifestyle.”

For example, when the alarm clock goes off, and we hit the snooze button (the
easy
thing), most people mistakenly assume that this action is only affecting that moment. The reality is that this type of action is programming our subconscious mind with the instructions that it is okay for us to
not
follow through with the things we intended to do. (More on that in the next chapter: 
Why Did You Wake Up This Morning?
)

We must stop isolating incidents and start seeing the bigger picture. Realize that everything that we do affects who we’re becoming, which is determining the life that we will ultimately create and live. When you see the big picture you start to take the alarm clock more seriously. When the buzzer goes off in the morning and you’re tempted to snooze, you start thinking,
Wait—this is not who I want to become—someone who doesn’t even have enough discipline to get out of bed in the morning. I’m getting up now, because I am committed to __________ (waking up early, hitting my goals, creating the life of my dreams, etc.)

Always remember that who you’re becoming is far more important than what you’re doing, and yet it is what you’re doing that is determining who you’re becoming.

Ö
 
Lack of Accountability

The link between success and accountability is irrefutable. Virtually
all
highly successful people—from CEOs to professional athletes to the President of the United States—embrace a high degree of accountability. It gives them the leverage they need to take action and create results, even when they don’t feel like it. Without it, we’d have a lot more pro-athletes skipping practice, and CEOs spending their days playing
Words With Friends
^TM
on their iPhones. I’m sure some are already doing that (I’m guilty of it occasionally), but we’d have a lot more.

Accountability is the act of being responsible to someone else for some action or result. Very little happens in this world, or in your life, without some form of accountability. Virtually every positive result you and I produced from birth to age eighteen was thanks to the accountability provided for us by the adults in our lives (parents, teachers, bosses, etc.) Vegetables got eaten, homework was completed, teeth were brushed, we bathed and got to bed at a reasonable hour. If it weren’t for the accountability provided for us by our parents and teachers, we would have been uneducated, malnourished, sleep-deprived, dirty little kids! Nice way to reframe it, right?

Accountability has brought order to our lives and allowed us to progress, improve and achieve results we wouldn’t have otherwise. Here’s the problem:  accountability was never something you and I asked for, but rather something that we endured as children, teens, and young adults. As it was forced upon us by adults, most of us unconsciously grew to resist and resent accountability altogether. Then, when we turned 18, we embraced every ounce of freedom we could get our hands on, continuing to avoid accountability like it was the plague, perpetuating a downward spiral into mediocrity, developing detrimental mindsets and habits such as laziness, deflecting responsibility, and taking short cuts—hardly a recipe for success.

Now that
we
are all grown up and striving to achieve worthy levels of success and fulfillment, we must take responsibility for initiating our own systems for accountability (or move back in with our parents). Your accountability system could be a professional coach, mentor, even a good friend or family member. The reality is that, statistically, 95% of the people that read any book don’t implement what they learn, because no one is holding them accountable to do so. There is a way to change that.

[Highly Recommended] Get an Accountability Partner

Have you ever had a day where you intended to exercise or go to the gym, but didn’t go because you didn’t
feel
like it? Sure, we all have. What about when you know someone is counting on you to meet them at the gym, or on the running trail—aren’t you much more likely to follow through when you have someone else holding you accountable?

I strongly recommend teaming up with an
Accountability Partner
while you read this book. This can be a friend, co-worker or family member that you simply share
The Miracle Morning
with by sending them to
MiracleMorning.com
so they can get a Miracle Morning “Crash Course” (2 free chapters of this book, as well as
The Miracle Morning
video and audio programs—all for
free
.) That way, you have someone who is also committed to taking his or her life to the next level, and the two of you can support, encourage, and hold each other accountable.

You can even post an invitation on your Facebook wall, or to the highly supportive members of
The Miracle Morning
Community
at
www.MyTMMCommunity.com
. You might post something like: 
“I’m looking for someone who wants to improve their life to be my Accountability Partner for The Miracle Morning 30-day Life Transformation Challenge. Check out
www.MiracleMorning.com
and let me know if you’re interested.”
  Keep in mind that anyone who responds to this is the type of person you want to have in your circle of influence!

I’d urge you to make a commitment now to call, text, or email a friend today, inviting them to join you on your
Miracle Morning
journey, read the book with you, and be your Accountability Partner for
The Miracle Morning 30-Day Life Transformation Challenge
in Chapter 10. Or, visit
The Miracle Morning
Community
at
www.MyTMMCommunity.com
to connect with fellow Miracle Makers and find your ideal Accountability Partner.

Ö
 
Mediocre Circle of Influence

Research has shown that we virtually become like the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Who you spend your time with may be the single most determining factor in the person you become and in your quality of life. If you are surrounded with lazy, weak-minded, excuse-making people, you’ll inevitably become like them. Spend time with positive, successful achievers and inevitably their attitudes and successful habits will reflect on you. You’ll become more and more like them.

This is true in every area—success, health, happiness weight, income. If all of your friends are generally happy and optimistic people, then you are going to naturally become more happy and optimistic just by being around them. If all of your friends are successful and earn over $100,000 a year—even if you enter their circle earning far less—you will automatically be pulled up by their level of thinking and influenced by the habits they’ve established to be successful.

On the contrary, if most of the people you associate with are constantly complaining and focused on the negative side of life, the odds are you will be too. If your friends are not striving to improve their lives, or if they’re struggling financially, then they’re not going to challenge or inspire you to do any better.

Unfortunately, there will be a lot of people who are trying to get ahead in life but keep getting pulled down by the people around them. This can be especially difficult when those people are your family. You must be strong and make sure you spend less time with people who don’t encourage and challenge you to become the best you can be.

Seek out people who believe in you, admire you, and can help you get where you want to go in life. You must
actively
seek out such people to improve your circle of influence—they rarely just show up by chance. Here are some ways that you can do that: 

§
 
You can join an online community such as
Meetup.com
, where you can connect with like-minded people in your area who have similar interests. You can join an existing Meetup group, or start your own.

§
 
If you are a business owner or a professional who markets any products or services, you can join a
business networking
and referral marketing
group, the largest of which is BNI (
www.bni.com
.)  I was a member of BNI for many years. It helped me grow my business and I always recommend it to others.

§
 
If you are a student—high school, junior, high, or elementary school student—I highly recommend that you look into joining
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
by finding one of their 4,000 local Clubs at www.bgca.org. It is one of the best organizations for young people to set yourself on the road to success. Their mission is: 
To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens
, and former Club members include Denzel Washington, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Lopez, and Shaquille O’Neal. Those aren’t bad footsteps to follow if you want to be successful.

§
 
As I’ve mentioned, we have an exceptionally positive, supportive, and highly proactive community you can join at
www.MyTMMCommunity.com
. There you can connect and network with all types of people—from executives and entrepreneurs to students and stay-at-home moms.

It is often said that “misery loves company”, but so does
mediocrity
. Don’t let the fears, insecurities, and limiting beliefs of others limit what’s possible for you. One of the most important commitments you will ever make is to proactively and continuously improve your circle of influence. Always seek people who will add value to your life and bring out the best in you. And of course, be that person for others.

This is another reason that it’s so valuable for you to commit to inviting a friend, co-worker or family member to be your Accountability Partner and do the Miracle Morning with you. You’ll be adding value to that person’s life by helping them increase their level of personal development, which in turn will make them a better influence on you.

Ö
 
Lack of Personal Development

Jim Rohn has been one of my greatest mentors and has taught me many life-changing philosophies. In my opinion, none was greater than the idea that
our levels of success will rarely exceed our level of personal development, because success is something we attract by who we become
. In other words, your level of success—in every area of your life—will rarely exceed, and usually
parallel
your level of personal development (i.e. your knowledge, skills, beliefs, habits, etc.)